Hello all,
Some time since I posted here, but finally got my M.2 950 Pro nvme SSD talking, recognized by Samsung Magician, using the Samsung drivers.
Here is the consolidation of my infos:
I have completely functional 950 Pro running in laptop, other SSD is safely tucked away in the Asus box.
Using the nvme version:
http://www.materiel.net/ssd/samsung-...go-122255.html What I did was:
•add 950 Pro ssd in the second M.2 port, next to original ssd (SM951 with 128GB capacity)
•in windows 10, go to "disk management"
•in "disk management", initialize the SSD 950 Pro
•start "Samsung Data migration" software to copy the whole windows install from the SM951 onto the 950 Pro
•2 minutes later, shut down laptop, take out original SSD (first M.2 port), put the 950 Pro in the spot the original SSD was placed in
•Enjoy superior performance with no problems whatsoever
Now, for those who wish to install the Samsung nvme driver, we all know standard UEFI/BIOS setting is locked into RAID mode and prevents Samsung Magician and the Samsung nvme driver to see the 950 Pro. This is due the fact the SSD passes through another chip, that acts like a wall preventing the software to see the drive.
This is how I sloped the wall, all thanks some info I found yesterday while googling again for the matter.
- Go to Device Manager > Storage Controllers > uninstall any RAID device.
- Start msconfig.exe > Boot > Safe Boot (Minimal) > Restart
- During restart, spam F2 to enter UEFI (if you missed the window of opportunity and are back on the Windows Logon, just press the power button and press "Restart").
- In the UEFI, you can now change the storage controller settings from RAID to AHCI (guess there's a lock coming from Windows through the Intel RAID driver preventing the change in the UEFI).
- Save the UEFI change and boot into SAFE mode Windows.
- At this point, I installed the Samsung nvme driver 1.1.
- Go to msconfig, select normal startup and then restart. (Careful, my Windows menu and such was acting up, so I had use my mouse to go through "My Computer > C:\ > Windows > System 32 > msconfig.exe".)
- You succesfully switched to AHCI mode and Samsung Magician sees your new nvme 950 Pro!
This is it for me, I am happy that I have it all working now.
That said, I'm not touching the over-provisioning, nor the RAPID mode from Samsung, as the normal over-provisioning programmed in the SSD firmware should be ok for like 99% of the cases, and the RAPID mode is a software tweak that might put your data at risk if unexpected changes occur. I prefer reliability above excess speed.
🙂Enjoy all!
